Making sense (and, sometimes, nonsense) out of Current News, Issues, Politics

Friday, October 7, 2016

Another Renewable Power Disaster

On September 15th, I wrote about how unreliable and uncontrolled wind and solar was putting our electrical grids at risk. The focus of that blog was on a near meltdown of the power grid that occurred earlier this year due to the overproduction of solar power in Germany.

Well, we have yet another example of the impact of unreliable renewable power. This time in South Australia, where the problem was wildly fluctuating winds on September 28, that resulted in the complete shutdown of wind power and the triggering of a blackout:

Simply, the quick and wild fluctuations in wind energy could not be managed with the insertion of conventional power, and the result was a blackout. In fact, because the winds were so strong, the turbines actually shut themselves down to keep from ripping themselves apart.

Of course, the Energy Minister of Australia -- a liberal politician and advocate of renewable power -- refuses to believe that the lack of wind power had anything to do with the resulting massive blackout, and therefore, Australia should continue to pursue its aggressive wind and solar plans. Really?